Techflier New Year’s Wrap-up: Top 17 Tech Startups of 2017

2017 may have been a tumultuous year across the globe, but adversity hasn’t stopped tech startups around the world from bringing to market innovative products and services. In fact, according to Fortune Magazine, more entrepreneurs have launched startups in 2017 than in the last 4 years.

From digital solutions for combating deadly sleep apnea to wireless health incident monitoring systems, the following are the top 17 tech startups around the world you need to know about in 2017 and beyond.

Malaysia’s Watch Over Me turns your iOS or Android-based smartphone into a powerful personal safety device. The app uses GPS to track your whereabouts and sends a check-in request once the journey is completed. If you fail to respond, it will send an alert to your emergency contacts with your mapped location. Additionally, the app uses crowdsourced data to alert you if entering a high-crime area.

Soter Analytics has developed a connected health system that analyzes data from wearable devices worn by industrial workers to improve on-the-job efficiencies and reduce the risk of injuries. The solution enables firms to reduce the impact of injuries by ​$7,000 per employee annually.

Tunisia-based Saphon Energy is developing a cleantech solution called the Saphonian—an efficient, zero-blade wind converter that offers a reliable and eco-friendly way to harness wind power for green energy. The company is working in tandem with Microsoft to bring its offering to the market.

Sleep apnea is a dangerous condition that could lead to high blood pressure, stroke, heart attacks, and a host of other maladies. Louisville, Kentucky-based PSYCHE aims to improve sufferers’ condition with smart solutions such as its sleep pillow and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) ventilator device.

Tel Aviv-based Neura has developed an AI platform that enables apps and devices to adapt and react to user behavior and preferences. The solution is able to glean insights from the user behavior, as tracked through tech ecosystems, activities, habits, and metrics.

Porto, Portugal’s AddVolt has developed a solution called WeTruck that uses energy generated by heavy transportation vehicles such as trucks to power connected refrigeration units. The brake energy generated saves up to 87% of diesel costs.

Lithuania-based SketchAR has developed an augmented reality app for sketching: users view a virtual image on the surface to be sketched upon through the phone. The app is a godsend for users who have always wanted to draw but lack the artistic skills.

Nairobi’s BRCK aims to bring internet connectivity to the 4.5 billion people in remote areas that have yet to get online—its rugged, self-powered mobile devices have been featured in Forbes, BBC, Wired, TED, CNN, and Der Spiegel, among others.

Estonia’s RocketBody is a fitness bracelet accompanied by a mobile app that will provide recommendations for a more healthy lifestyle. For example, it will alert the wearer when it’s ideal to exercise and when it’s better to remain idle. The offering will also select food for you based on set goals and current health status.

Armenia-based WiMedia offers a wifi advertising platform that allows venue owners to capitalize on their free internet hotspots by connecting them to advertisers who pay for location-based, fullscreen advertising spots. The offering covers some of Yerevan’s most important locations including the airport, metro, and the some of the city’s largest shopping malls.

Kolkata-based iKure has developed a wireless health incident monitoring system for providing remote healthcare services to rural areas where proper health clinic and medicine may not be readily accessible. The system operates via a operated hub-and-spoke model and vast network of rural health workers trained to provide primary healthcare services.

Oslo, Norway’s Imerso AS develops 3D scanning software for mobile devices that digitise real world spaces into 1:1 3D models within seconds. The solution is targeted for users in the construction, architecture, and property development industries, among others.

Bangladesh’s GO! Fetch has developed a logistics platform for bridging the last mile between businesses, retailers, and customers. The company specializes in product pickup, warehousing, product delivery, cash pick-up/delivery, and real-time tracking and support.

Madrid’s Nyuron Synaptics S.L. has developed a groundbreaking technology for predicting human behavior. The platform is an intelligent expert system that provides predictions of people’s behavior in different situations and contexts: education, consumer affairs, human resources, risk assessment, and many more with unprecedented accuracy.

These are just a minute fraction of the innovative startups worth mentioning in 2017. Be sure to keep them, and others like them, on your radar in 2018. From all of us at Techflier, have a safe and joyous New Year’s—and see you in 2018.